Assessing Food Liking: Comparison of Food Liking Questionnaires and Direct Food Tasting in Two Cultures

Abstract

Food liking can be directly measured in specialised sensory testing facilities; however, this method is not feasible for large population samples. The aim of the study was to compare a Food Liking Questionnaire (FLQ) against lab-based sensory testing in two countries. The study was conducted with 70 Australian and Thai participants (35 Australian, 35 Thai, mean (SD) age 19 (3.01) years, 51% men). Participants completed a FLQ (consisting of 73 food items Australia, 89 Thai) and then, after tasting the food, rated their liking of a selection of 10 commercially available food items using a nine-point hedonic scale. Both tasks were completed on the same day and were repeated one week later. The reliability of and a comparison between methods was determined using Intra-Class Correlation Coefficients (ICC), and the difference was assessed using an independent sample <i>t</i>-test. The results indicate that the test-retest reliability of FLQ and the laboratory-based liking assessment range was moderate (0.40⁻0.59) to excellent (0.75⁻1.00). There were significant differences for the FLQ and the laboratory-based liking assessment between countries for three food items: soft drink, instant vegetable soup, and broccoli (<i>p</i> < 0.01). However, the data produced from the FLQ reflects the laboratory-based liking assessment. Therefore, it provides representative liking data in large population-based studies including cross-cultural studies.